The baby photos of Blue Ivy Carter, the bubbling offspring of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, never did get around to commanding top dollar in a big stakes magazine auction for exclusive rights.

The imminent sale of some unauthorized photos may have forced the hand of the power couple, which posted official baby photos on their Web sites last Friday, where they were picked up by celebrity magazines including People, Star, and Us Weekly that are hitting newsstands today.

Nobody paid a dime.

Beyoncé’s publicist was mum on what happened. “They are available free on the Web site,” she said, declining further comment.

Media Ink had predicted shortly after the birth that there would no mega-bucks auction as there was for Brad and Angelina’s baby photos for a few reasons. For one thing, the market for baby photos has collapsed now that Us Weekly and OK! have effectively stopped giving competition to People.

Also, Beyoncé and Jay-Z seem protective of their privacy and may have wanted to avoid the spectacle of selling off the photos.

But there may have been another factor at work. At least one source said that someone had been offering to sell unauthorized baby photos to the celebrity mags. The best way to thwart the black market is to flood the market with the real thing.

Stop work

State investigators from the Workers’ Compensation Board slapped a “stop-work order” on the front door of Maxim-parent Alpha Media yesterday — but nobody seems to have paid it any notice.

“We’re still working,” said Jack Kliger, who took over as executive chairman last month.

It appears state investigator Ismael Correa, Jr. tacked the order on the front door of the building when he was unable to get upstairs during an Alpha corporate board meeting with owners from Cerberus Capital.

Apparently, the violation was triggered because the agency believed the company, which operates through six different holding companies, was not paying workers compensation insurance for all its employees as required by law.

“It was basically a computer glitch,” Kliger said. “We have been paying, they just didn’t have the computers hooked up to record it correctly.”

One source close to the situation said the company also drew scrutiny when Kliger last month was named as executive chairman of Alpha Media, replacing CEO Joe Mangione. Kliger is technically considered an outside contractor who oversees Maxim as well as TV Guide, owned by Open Gate Capital.

“That’s not what this issue is about,” insisted Kliger, although one source said it could come back to haunt both Maxim and TV Guide at some point.

Correa and the state compensation board spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.

Condé raid

Here’s what’s been missing: a good old-fashioned raid by Condé Nast on its traditional rivals at Hearst. Yesterday, Self Editor-in-Chief Lucy Danziger poached from Kate White’s Cosmopolitan, luring Cosmo Deputy Editor Isabel Burton to become the new executive editor of Self.

“We’re growing this brand in every direction,” she said. “We’re talking about every type of licensing deal and platform that you can imagine.”

OK! miss

OK! was among the few celebrity weeklies that did not run with the death of Whitney Houston on its cover this week.

In the past, that might have been because the weekly was deliberately trying to set itself apart from the pack.

This time around, however, it was because OK! several months ago moved its deadlines to the point where it closes its issues on Thursday, a week before it appears on newsstands.

The deadline was moved so that the company could squeeze in production of its newest title, Reality Weekly, which has been having a tough time getting noticed in what has been a moribund period for all celebrity titles.

Both OK! and Reality Weekly are produced by the same staff, headed by OK! Editor Richard Spencer.

Spencer has not been in the office for a week, sources said, which got some wondering about whether the pay, the double work or the deadlines were hampering breaking news.

But Spencer said he requested the time off to help take care of a sister recuperating from knee surgery and that he has been doing covers and cutlines remotely.

Forbes exits

There are more shake-ups afoot at Forbes, where Chief Content Officer Lewis DVorkin has been pushing blogging and social media as a major component of the new Forbes Media.

Among those exiting in recent weeks were three senior editors: Brett Nelson, who resigned to move to Nashville with his girlfriend, Larry Reibstein and William Barrett.